


as the ground keeps shifting

by Mars_and_Moon



Series: to have the three of us be victorious (is something out of a dream) [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: F/M, Families of Choice, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Medical Inaccuracies, Mentions of Death, Past Drug Use, Unplanned Pregnancy, everyone is trying and i thinks that's great, god someone get klaus a boyfriend and some therapy, look. i don't know how pregnancy works and honestly i don't care enough to look it up, very very light references to prostitution, whoops we respoting bitches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-01-23 04:24:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18542212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mars_and_Moon/pseuds/Mars_and_Moon
Summary: “Nikolas means victory of the people in Greek, which seems like the type of thing he needs,” Klaus said, his eyes never leaving the small figure in the incubator.Jade smiled sadly and reached to grab Klaus’s hand. “I think it's the type of thing we all need.”ORJade is a mother, Klaus is a father, and Nikolas is the only good thing to come out of all the benders the two have done. So they have to try to do this. They have to at least do that.





	1. moments you can't understand

**Author's Note:**

> i posted this before (and holy shit all of you were here for it) but i didn't like how i formatted it, so i turned it into a series. more info about that at the bottom  
> as per usual: writing_way_too_much edited his monster of a fic.

Jade Vega is praying to a god she hasn’t believed in for years. Praying to a god that let her watch her mother use the money from Jade’s college fund to buy too much cocaine and too much beer. How the tables turn, because now she does the same. 

But she’s praying that Klaus is still in the same place he was three weeks ago. She had to rummage through her brain to even remember what the motel was called, and even then she had to have a very awkward conversation with the man at the front desk, because she didn’t know the room number. And if it was all for naught, she was going to actually scream. 

And she could not afford that right now.  

The faded number of the room is just another tell of how shitty the place was; next to the literal rotten railings though, the numbers weren’t the biggest concern.

If Jade had a little more tact she would call it run-down, but she doesn’t. So she said it’s shitty. But she knew why people stayed here, knew it was cheap for a room, knew that nobody ever called the cops if some less than legal activities happened, knew that as long as you paid, you could stay.

Jade took a breath and slowly raised her hand to knock on the door. The sound seemed to echo around the otherwise quiet area. Addicts weren’t awake at nine in the morning, unless they had never gone to sleep in the first place, so there was a fifty-fifty chance that the door would be opened by a newly woken Klaus. 

She took a step back from the when she heard the movement coming inside. The door opened as well as it could; since the chain lock was still on, it wasn’t far. Jade could still smell the weed, the booze, and something else that she didn’t want to question. 

It wasn’t the smartest idea to come around this area when she was trying to get sober, but what else could she do. 

She wasn’t sure why it was so important to her to tell him about everything. But it was, so she tracked down a room, like a stalker.

Before she could get out a word, the door was closed again. Which was rude, but only mostly uncalled for. She was about to knock again when the door reopened, fully this time. 

Klaus was standing in front of her, in all of his glory, including the same leather pants he had on when Jade had met him. He was holding an almost empty bottle of what looked like vodka and staring at her like she had two heads. 

Jade was far too tired to play games. The place was almost an hour away from her waitressing job, so she would be late for her shift, so she might lose her job, so she just asked bluntly: "Do you remember me?" 

Klaus’ line of sight went above her head for a few seconds. He took a swig of vodka before meeting her eyes again. "Yes,” Klaus said slowly. He sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than her. “Jade, right? You have those butterfly tattoos on the back of your leg."

He gave himself a small nod, muttered something under his breath, and turned away for a second. He turned around and didn’t say anything else. He kept staring and leaned against the door frame, trying to balance himself.  

Jade sighed. She became a slight stalker for this man, lord help her. But there is no time like the present to give life changing news.  

“I’m pregnant.” The words spilled into the world. No take-backs now. 

Klaus didn’t move from the door frame, but he squinted his eyes and refocused his line of vision on her. 

Jade did not panic. She did not panic. But she rambled, which she does, because right now she wants a hit but it’s been three weeks and she has person growing inside her. So she’s allowed to ramble. "You don't have to be involved. I'm not asking you to be. Hell, I’m not asking for anything. But, you deserve to know about the kid, to have a choice. I won’t hold it against you if you don’t want to be involved or--" She cuts herself off. 

Taking a deep breath, her eyes began trailing around the room that laid beyond the faded numbers. Empty bottles of unknown liquor were scattered about. Bags of pills. Lines of white that were probably coke. It looked like an addict’s paradise. 

"I'm getting clean, because I know what it's like to be raised by an addict,” she whispered. Because it was important to her that this kid--that  _ her  _ kid--didn’t know what it felt like to have rent money spent on a next fix, to have a parent letting shady dealers hang out in their house. She’s determined to be better than that. 

Klaus still wasn't talking. He dragged a hand across his face, his eyes continually darting around the area like he’s looking for someone. He opened his mouth like he was going to talk, but closed it quickly.

Jade closed her eyes for a second. “This was stupid,” she said. “I'm sorry to bother you, Klaus, just forget I was ever here." 

She turned around, but before she could take a second step, Klaus said, "I need--I need time." A pause. "To get sober, I mean. It'll take time." 

Jade turned around far quicker than she intended to, feeling her eyes widen. Yes, she had come here, but she wasn’t expecting anything to come out of it. Klaus had a reputation, after all. Even Jade knew that. 

Klaus visibly swallowed. "And I need to, explain, some stuff. About me. Because that might have effects on the--on our kid." He let out a small, slightly unhinged laugh after he said the last part. 

She shrugged, still in some kind of shock-like state over the fact that Klaus was talking about getting clean and raising this kid.  _ Our  _ kid, he had said.

"We have time." 

"And,” Klaus almost looked sad. “I can't fall in love with you. I mean, I don't think I can. And I'm sorry. About that." 

Jade scoffed. That was thoroughly not why she was here. She wasn’t sure why she had come here, but it hadn’t been for love. "I'm not asking you to fall in love with me, Klaus." 

"So, we're, uh, doing this? Together. I mean?” He sounded terrified, which she couldn’t even blame him for. She was probably even more terrified than he was. Two ex-junkies--one of which wasn’t actually clean yet--both without a completely stable job, or housing raising a kid? Yeah, that had to be a social workers nightmare.

She’d have to get to work soon. They’d need to talk again, because Klaus had to understand the he couldn’t leave. He had an option and he chose staying, so he would be  _ staying _ . That would be later though.

Now, Klaus gave her a smile softer then she had seen before on his face. It made him look innocent, and genuinely happy. And he was talking about names or something stupid. 

Yeah, they could do this. 

 

 

+++++++

 

 

Klaus kept to his word, about getting clean, about explaining the ghosts.

Jade had known about the Umbrella Academy, obviously. And she would say she took the whole ghosts thing pretty well. Klaus would say she hadn't, but he was still high off his ass during the conversation, so he didn't get an opinion. The ghost thing wasn't the weirdest part about Klaus anyway. 

It had taken three months, one rehab stay, four shitty paying jobs, and Klaus technically being a drug dealer for two weeks, but Jade and Klaus finally had an apartment. And yes, they had been staying in separate places. Klaus in the motel and Jade in her roommate-filled drug house. Great places for people trying to get sober.

A one-room apartment in a terrible part of town, but an apartment nonetheless. It was cheap, and terrible but it was theirs. It wasn’t home, it would never be home, but it would be a place, a new chapter or something equally cheesy that the NA leader would like.

The apartment was crowded even with only two people in it. Klaus and Jade shared a mattress they had bought for twenty dollars off some stranger. There was a silent agreement to not ask why the mattress was only twenty dollars.  

They also had a crib from a secondhand store. It cost over one hundred bucks. Jade had insisted they focus on buying the things the baby needed for a while, until they had jobs that were more stable. And maybe it was rude, but they didn't have a lot of money, and babies were expensive. 

But one day Klaus had come back to the apartment with three boxes of blue hair dye, proper maternity clothes, and a fucking  _ record player _ with three different records. 

Jade was scared to ask how he gotten the money for all of these things, and if the small glimpses of bruises on his hips and on his thighs she kept seeing were any indication, Klaus wouldn’t talk about it to her. So she let it slide, and asked Klaus to help her dye her hair. He told her shitty dad jokes while he did it in the kitchen sink, claiming to be practicing for when the baby came. 

 

 

 

+++++++

 

 

Jade barely looked the eight months pregnant she was. Which wasn’t normal, but nothing in her current situation was, so she accepted the fact and moved on.  

She had been coming home from the diner, the same diner from seven months ago, where she washed dishes. She was walking home when she felt a stronger kick then normal. She kept walking, because it was close to one in the morning and she didn’t have time to deal with this. She wanted to sleep, maybe have a cup of tea and say goodbye to Klaus before he left to--whatever he did, possibly something illegal, because what other jobs are there at one am--so she kept walking. 

By the time she was back at the apartment--still not home, still would never be--the kicks were close together; she had to stop a few times up the stairs to catch her breath, because, fuck this hurt, and by the time she had gotten into the apartment, Jade had come to the conclusion that she was probably in labor, even though she wasn't at her due date. Hell, she was a month before her due date. But she could chalk that up to the drugs. She was honestly surprised the baby had stayed put this long. 

Maybe it was some weird Umbrella Academy thing. Maybe it was chance. Maybe god was giving her a healthy baby because she was feeling nice, Jade didn’t know. She didn’t really care. 

She cared about the fact that she was in labor and the baby wouldn’t have a name because every suggestion Klaus had given her was absolutely terrible. They didn’t know the baby’s gender either, though that was more personal preference than anything else. Because fuck gender honestly, Klaus walked around in fishnet tights and cocktail dresses and fur coats and high heels. Jade shopped out of the guys section at the thrift store. Gender didn’t exist in their lives. 

But they weren’t ready. Sure, they had a crib and some blankets, but diapers? Asking for time off? All of the stuff they were supposed to buy this weekend during their monthly somewhat shopping spree for baby things? They didn’t have that because it was one in the fucking morning on a Wednesday. And it was one am, which she has said multiple times but that is probably because it’s  _ one fucking am _ and she’s supposed to be asleep not stumbling into her apartment with a human person trying to escape via her  _ vagina _ . 

Klaus was seated on top of the counter when Jade had finally managed to make it through the door. There was a half cold cup of tea--because Jade insisted on caffeine, but apparently it was bad for the baby, so she couldn’t drink her coffee. So Klaus had taken to making her several cups of tea throughout the day, because he was like that. God, sober Klaus was a gift to humanity--and an empty cup beside it, both of them were shitty actual plastic dollar store cups, but Jade couldn’t bring herself to care about the tea, because she had another contraction and it hurt like a bitch. 

Klaus, of course noticed when she all but doubled over in pain, and literally jumped off the counter. He put a hand on the small of her back and guided her over to the couch--a new addition to the place, once again from Klaus and the money from his mysterious-but-not-really-just-not-talked-about job. Moving was going to be a bitch with all the furniture he kept buying--muttering to the air next to him, probably having a conversation with Ben, which Jade was pleased about. He seemed to be a strong voice of reason.

Klaus tried to get her to sit down, but she twisted his arm and said: “A person is currently trying to come out from down there, and I’d rather not crush them.” 

Jade wasn’t sure that’s how that actually worked, she didn’t finish high school or actually pay attention to the classes she did attend. But she would stick by it now, if only out of spite.

So she leaned against his arm and watched Klaus panic for a few minutes before walking over to the phone and calling a taxi. After the call the two of them sat in silence, occasionally broken by Jade groaning in pain. These things seemed really close together, which Jade was pretty sure meant that the baby would be joining them soon. 

Klaus broken the silence. “Should we like, pack a bag? Don’t they do that in movies?” 

Fuck. Jade took everything back. They couldn’t do this. They were both too fucked up, too many drugs and abusive parents and dead people following them around; maybe she should just give the kid up for adoption. So they could have a normal, not a ghost-filled, ex-junkie-parents life. 

“Jade!” Klaus called. At some point during Jade’s spiral he had moved to the bedroom. “Ben says you should bring a book or something! And a toothbrush! Is he full of shit or do you want those in the bag?” There was a pause before Jade heard: “Ben, the baby, can’t hear me! You shut up, help me find a suitcase.” 

Or maybe. “A book would be cool!” Jade called back. “Toothbrush too!”

“Stop being smug, Ben! It’s not a good look on you.” She laughed, the one sided conversations were always hilarious, and it was taking her mind off of the pain. She couldn’t help but wonder if that was the plan, because Klaus usually doesn’t respond this loud when Ben talks. 

“Yes, Benjamin, I know she doesn’t like the mint toothpaste, I’m not stupid.”

Maybe. Maybe they could do this. They could try? Jade stomped her foot when another contraction hit, trying not to scream in pain.

She had to at least try after all of the torture the kid was putting her through with the labor. 

 

 

+++++++

 

 

Sixteen hours. Jade spent sixteen hours in labor, and she possible broke Klaus’s hand from all the squeezing. If Klaus’s accounts were anything to go buy at least. And she did all sixteen hours without painkillers, because sobriety or some shit. Which hurt like a bitch, but hey of women did it before painkillers were invented, so it was possible. 

_ (“Didn’t a whole bunch of women used to die while giving birth?” _

_ “Klaus if you don’t shut the fuck up--”) _

At least she got a son out of it. There was a lot of blood. More than Jade had expected, and the kid was currently in the NICU, because being born over a month early to an ex-junkie who had done drugs while pregnant was not good for one’s health. So he was underweight, severely, and the baby has not been crying, which definitely made her panic. But the doctor told her it was normal, given the circumstances.

So Jade and Klaus were sitting in Jade’s room, arguing about what to name their son.

“Eli,” Jade said. It was a good name, a lawyer name or something. She was really tired, and stressing over the kid no matter how many time Klaus assured her that Ben was with him. Making sure that nothing bad happens, like some kind of guardian angel. Which was really fucking weird if Jade thought about it too hard. Her co-parents dead brother was literally watching her son.

Fucking Umbrella Academy.

Klaus made a face at the name. “Eli? Not going to happen. You know what’s a good name? Andre. I knew a guy named Andre once--actually he might have been my dealer--but anyway was a blast to be around.”

Jade picked her book off the side table and threw it at him. She missed. “We are so not naming our kid after a drug dealer, Klaus Hargreeves!” 

“Fine. What if we name him after my father? Just out of spite. ‘Yes, Dad, here is my illegitimate son, and here his Hispanic mother. We named him after you, because fuck you, you old bastard, and fuck your racism.’ That’d be amazing, can we do that?” 

Jade really wished she’d brought another book. “No, Klaus we are not doing that.”

Klaus pouted. “Fine. What about, Hans? Wolfgang? Blaise? Dion? Mateo? Denver? Samuel? Alexander? Rumpelstiltskin? Come on blueberry, these are some great names.” 

Jade sighed. She knew what he was doing, making way too many jokes to hide that fact that their son might be dying. They shouldn’t have skipped out on the doctors appointments, she should have found someone to cover her shift. Or done something, because things like this could have been avoided. 

Klaus seemed to have picked up in the spiral. “Blueberry? Stop thinking so loud, it's giving me a headache.” 

“You can't even read minds.” 

“Maybe I can, maybe I've been able to read minds this entire time, but never told anyone lest my father finds out.” 

Jade threw her pillow at him. Klaus threw it back at her. His face fell slightly though, line of sight shifting past Jade to the door. 

Klaus gave such a small smile she wouldn't have been able to pick up on had it not been for the constant companionship of the past few months. “Ben says he's doing well. Finally started to cry about half an hour ago, has a strong pair of lungs on him too.” 

“Well, there is no way he got the strong lungs from us.” 

Klaus gave her a fake offended look. “I'll have you know, before I trashed all of my body with hard drugs--Ben’s words, not mine--I had great lungs. Reginald made us have monthly check ups and I would pass with flying colors.” 

“Sure,” Jade deadpanned. “And I used to want to go to law school before I got hooked on coke.” That was only a lie because of the profession. She had wanted to do something with her life, she wanted to be a nurse. But that dream faded quickly. 

Klaus’s smile became a little more forced after she said that. “He should have your last name, Jade. It'll be less of a hassle. If someone puts two-and-two together it would be all over gossip magazines.” 

He had a point. Hargreeves? Everyone knew that name, Umbrella Academy or not. But Vega? Nobody would ever raise a fuss. 

But the kid still needed a first name. 

“We could name him Ben?” Jade said tentatively. She had been thinking about it for a few weeks. If it was a boy. 

Klaus stilled, the smile once again becoming more genuine.“Ben says thanks, but he's good with not having another Ben walking around. It'll get confusing.”

“Middle name, if only out of spite?” She held out her hand, as if this was some big business transaction, not spite naming their kid. 

He got a gleam in his eyes, and moved to shake her hand. “Middle name out of spite,” he agreed. 

Small victories for their kid was what they would have to settle for at the moment it seemed. She could deal with that. They both could. 

“What if we named him Cosmo!” 

Probably. They could probably deal with it, if Jade didn't smother Klaus with a pillow before then. 


	2. keep sane as the rules keep changing

Klaus was the one who woke up with Nikolas most nights after he had been allowed to leave the hospital, something that had only happened three and a half months after he was born.

_ (“Nikolas means victory of the people in Greek, which seems like the type of thing he needs,” Klaus had said, his eyes never leaving the small figure in the incubator.  _

_ Jade smiled sadly and reached to grab Klaus’s hand. “I think it's the type of thing we all need.”) _

Jade wasn't complaining about it. Because she was working even more now the Nikolas had been born, trying to get out of the apartment they currently had. Because it was not baby friendly, and the kid deserved better. She was close to having enough money to be able to, especially with the apparent cash Klaus had been saving up secretly.  

Which honestly seemed to described Klaus as a person. Countless tricks up his sleeve; hell, he had started to literally float around a few months into his sobriety, which was not something Jade had expected to walk in on after a long shift. 

He was an enigma, but it didn’t really matter to her, because he was also kind, and hilarious, and a surprisingly good baker. 

Anyway, Klaus had been getting up with Nikolas most nights; he talked and talked and talked until he had fallen back asleep. Klaus more often than not fell asleep in the chair next to the crib for when Nikolas woke up again. He complained that it was an uncomfortable chair and that they should not bring it with them when they moved. Or maybe they could burn it. 

Nikolas was doing good; he didn’t cry very often because his lungs were shitty (but so were Jade’s and Klaus’s, so they delt) and he had a million doctor’s appointments, which is how Jade had found out that Klaus had health insurance--thanks for that, Reginald--which covered the countless hospital bills. Klaus hadn't known about it until recently. 

_ (“I did always wonder why I never paid for rehab.”  _

_ “Oh my god, Klaus.”) _

Jade was woman enough to admit she cried when she found out, because that was one thing she wouldn’t have to worry about paying for. 

Klaus was also working less. Actually, he was working more; he was just working less at his mysterious-but-not-really job, instead taking more shifts as a cashier, and sometimes at a professional cleaning place. Jade didn’t really know how he landed the latter job, but who was she to judge. 

One night, after Jade had gotten home she went to check on Nikolas. Klaus was holding him, and rambling on, as was the usual.

Klaus said: “You don’t see your mom a lot, I know. But she’s amazing. And when you’re older and remember more, she’ll be there. She promised you that before you were even in the world. Gave me this whole speech about how I wasn’t allowed to leave, ‘You had a choice and you choose staying so that’s what you’re going to do, Hargreeves,’ your mom is a little scary, but it’s okay.”

Klaus paused for a second, shifting Nikolas into a more comfortable position. “And you have this uncle, his name is Ben--like your middle name. Anyway he’s always watching over you--in a non-creepy way, don’t worry your mom and I will never anyone bad near you--but he was there in the hospital and made sure you would be okay. You have a lot of other uncles too! But I don’t know if you’ll ever meet them; they don’t like me that much, but it’s okay because I understand why. You have aunts, two of them. They like me a little more.”

He stopped talking and looked down at Nikolas, then swiftly placed him back into his crib. “You’re gonna have a great life, Nikky. I promise. Whatever you want to do, who ever you want to be? You’ll be extraordinary.” Klaus gave him a small kiss on the forehead before standing back up straight.  

 

They moved out three weeks later. They found an apartment in a nice area near a school, as far away from the Umbrella Academy as they could, and still too small for even the three of them. But it felt more like a home. It felt like it could actually be their home.

 

 

+++++++

 

 

Jade thought about the possibility of Nikolas gaining the ability to see ghosts more than she’d care to admit to anyone. She knew Klaus did too, probably more than she ever would; she knew that he would all but lose his mind if he started to see them. Unfortunately, the universe has never found it within itself to like either of them. 

Nikolas was four and he had been having nightmares for weeks. Klaus had been on night shifts for what felt like forever, so it was Jade who would get out of bed to go and comfort their son. Of course, once Klaus was off nights he insisted he would be getting up if the nightmares still continued, Jade happily let him take over. She knew how much he loved doing it, giving comfort he’d seek out as a child himself but never received. Klaus had always taken to fatherhood like a dying fish to water. 

So she had assumed when Klaus never came back to their bed--because yes, they still shared a bed, they both had nightmares themselves, and they both liked the occasional platonic cuddle session--he had fallen asleep in Nikolas’s room, maybe after reading him three bedtime stories, maybe just holding him. Jade wasn’t completely sure how Klaus comforted Nikolas after nightmares, as she was partial to gently rocking him and singing softly, the things she wished her mother had done all the times she had a nightmare. Things she had watched both mothers and fathers do on television.  

She was almost asleep--the thoughts of shitty childhood still whirling in her mind, but it wasn’t like she wasn’t used to them--when she faint heard crying coming from the bathroom. She got out of bed quickly after that, motherly instincts or something. 

It ended up being Klaus, he was holding a box of tissues in one hand and trying to muffle his sobs by covering his mouth with the other. He was sitting on the tile floor and had two almost perfectly straight streaks of mascara and eyeliner down running down his face. There were no empty bottle of liquor either, which Jade had expect as such, but the confirmation was nice.

It would almost look completely staged if it weren’t for the fact that his eyes were transfixed on the empty box of blue hair dye; they had dyed it in the morning one of the few times Klaus and Jade’s schedules intertwined. Nikolas had sat in the bathtub and asked questions, about space and why the ‘water’ was turning her hair blue. Nikolas had complained about the smell, his nose scrunching up everytime it got particularly bad. 

But he wouldn’t leave the bathroom. So for the first time in a while Klaus helped her dye her hair. 

Klaus always locked his line of sight onto one object to ground him to reality when the ghosts got really bad. Or if he was having a flashback from the Umbrella Academy. So she knew that it wasn’t fake, that something was wrong enough that he would somewhat shut down, that he would stop talking. Jade could only assume Ben was with them in the bathroom, offering words of comfort for whatever had set Klaus off. She was grateful for that man, more than words could explain. And with ones that would make her sound batshit crazy. Jade slowly moved to sit next to him, not wanting to send him in deeper if it was a flashback. The coolness of the bathroom tiles sent an unexpected chill throughout her body. 

She moved to rub gentle circles on Klaus’s back, before stopping short. She moved her hand up higher to stroke his hair. Back rubs for when he was talking, stroking hair was for when he wasn’t. She didn’t ask why, just figured it out herself and went about her life. Her own baggage and comfort tools by her side. 

At some point, Klaus had moved his head to rest on her shoulder, the tears slowing down, the tissue box still held onto, but the hand take off his mouth. The sobs less loud, less frequent, but they still made him sound like he was dying. 

“He--” Klaus tried to get out, falling short, words trapping themselves in his throat. As if say them out loud would make everything worse. Jade didn’t push. 

“Nikky--” Another sob. “Nikky was talking to Ben, about his favorite toy.” And he then put his hand back over his mouth, sobbing harder. Jade understood what the news meant in Klaus’s mind: that Nikolas would one end up in some back alley looking for a way to dull all of the ghosts. Just like Klaus had. 

She talks slowly--because contrary to popular belief of all the older ladies at the dinner, she can be a good person that doesn’t yell-- and her voice was never above a whisper: “The nightmares were ghosts.” It wasn’t a question but Klaus still nodded his head in response. 

Jade took a death breath. “It’ll be okay--” he made a noise, clearing disagreeing. “He has  _ you _ , someone who understands him. And he has Ben, and Ben has always kept ghosts away from him. He’ll be okay--and you’ll be okay too, Klaus.”

The sobs lessened for the second--and hopefully last--time that night. Jade was still stroking Klaus’s hair.  

Fuck. They had been doing so well. And it’s not like they covered “What To Do If Your Kid Can See Ghosts” in any parent book anywhere. 

_ They would be fine _ . Jade decided right there, sitting on a cold bathroom floor, holding the father of her child as he sobbed about their son seeing his dead uncle.  _ They would be fine. This isn’t the worst part. They’ll be fine.  _

 

Jade never talked about the bathroom breakdown with Klaus, but the next morning Nikolas was going on about Uncle Ben and how only he and Dad could see him. She smiled along and laughed when Nikolas replayed a joke Ben told him. 

Klaus stayed turned away for most of the morning, and she knew it was because he was still hoping Nikolas would stop seeing Ben, and all of the other nightmare-inducing ghosts.

 

Jade could never figure if she found it more, funny, sad, or strange that they had found out about the ghosts when Nikolas was four. Klaus’s old number at the Academy. Number Four. The Séance. The Junkie. The Lookout. Jade wasn’t sure if Klaus had even realized the irony of it, or if it had made it worse for him. She never asked. 

 

 

+++++++

 

 

Klaus had joined the PTA. Jade was laughing her ass off. He had stopped with the professional cleaning. Jade had forced him to after she had gotten a promotion. She was now a manager, with more pay, with more daily hours, but with more days off during the week. 

So Klaus joined the PTA to fill the gaps the used to be his work hours. It apparently was not going well, because everyone else was apparently a middle-aged-white-suburban housewife that Klaus swore all looked like they were secretly breaking down every second of every day. The PTA mothers weren’t huge fans of Klaus, but they couldn’t do anything because Nikolas attended the school. 

Agaford Public School used to be an over-the-top private school, but shifted into a public one after people started leaving because of the prices. So on the outside it looked like a dream, but the inside looked like shit. Because, the public school system was fucked up. And Klaus did not get opinions on this because he had his weird homeschooling/superhero training thing and never went to a public school. 

But the Agaford Public School PTA, was what Jade had walked in on when entering the apartment. Klaus was sitting on the arm of the couch--that reminded Jade that they needed new furniture, ninety percent of the stuff they had was going on seven years old--he was wearing a bright orange crop top and what looked like leather pants and stiletto high heels. One of the lady’s looked at him like he was the devil himself. Jade thought it was hilarious. 

Her entrance altered all of them though, so now they were all staring at her in her secondhand pair of jeans--clothes shopping too, these things have a solid eight years themself--and apron she hadn’t bothered to take off. Nikolas, seven and far smarter then he should be--Jade would cast that blame onto Ben, she knew he was reading to him nightly. Something that Klaus had even stopped doing. And the few books Ben had access to while non-corporal (which was a whole different story) were not kids books. So she blamed him, and the fact that Nikolas was used to being observant, having to learn to check to see if a person was a ghost or other living being.

But Nikolas took a look around the room, and promptly went to his, saying he was doing extra work in math class and needed to do so now, but by himself. Jade would be willing to bet Ben had followed him to his room. 

One of the ladies cleared her throat, the one who had been eyeing Klaus like he would steal her purse. “Mrs. Vega, we were just discussing the upcoming bake sale with your husband. He’s offered to bake several items; and as wonderful as that would be, I was just explaining that there is a one-per-person limit.” She gave a smile, and Jade would be honest, she had never met this woman before today, but she already hated her. Hated her stupid fake smile, and her probably fake blonde hair. 

But she shoved that down, and smiled back at fake blondie, and then glared at Klaus. Because she wasn't aware PTA meant that they would be in their apartment. Their apartment that could probably fit into several of their living rooms.  

Klaus ignored her, and instead started talking to fake blondie about how it was stupid that he couldn't bring more than once baked good. “Isn’t this about fundraising, Susan--”

“My name is Stacey?” Fake blondie actually looked offended that Klaus had called her by a different name. It took all of Jade’s willpower to not burst into laughter. It’s the least personal thing ever, he does it to  _ her _ and _ she had his son _ . Grow up, fake blondie. 

“Stacey. Susan. Whatever--isn’t this about fundraising? She we be able to give more to cause? Why must you limit how much someone supports the cause! Next thing you tell me is there is a limit on how many cookies I can bring!” Two weeks of PTA and Klaus was already yelling about cookies. Jade pinched the bridge of her nose, even though she was completely unsurprised that Klaus is acting like this. 

Fake blondie--Stacey, or whatever--said something that Jade didn’t hear, but that had Klaus going off. All of the other women didn’t move while Klaus went off on a rant about cookies and freedom and charity and school spirit. One of them--short, brown hair, flowy sundress and high heels--sighed and turned to another lady--taller, red hair, red lipstick, pencil skirt, and red high heels--and whispered something to her. 

Red high heels whispered something back to sundress and the two of them laughed. Another lady, the one sitting on the absolutely terrible chair in the living room said something that created chaos: “I actually agree with Klaus. Why should there be a limit, Stacey?”

The rest of them threw out their support for Klaus, or for fake--for Stacey. Most seemed to be agreeing with Klaus. Stacey did not seem to be enjoying this fact. Somebody said something else completely unrelated and soon it was worse than chaos. So Jade did the reasonable thing, and went to lock herself in her son’s room until the angry ladies left. She helped Nikolas with his actually-exciting-math, listening to the one side of the conversation he was having with Ben. 

Klaus walked in about half an hour later, looking very smug for reasons Jade didn’t want to know about. He grabbed Nikolas and placed him on top of his shoulders and told him they were going out for ice cream. Jade rolled her eyes, but asked if she was invited. Both of them pretended to think about it before launching into a very loud confirmation that  _ of course  _ she could come. 

 

The PTA never had another meeting at the apartment. And Klaus brought three cakes, one pie, and six hundred cookies to the bake sale. At the end of the day, there was a slice of cake, and six cookies left. Stacey no longer talked to Klaus at meetings. 

 

 

+++++++

 

 

Nikolas only invited three friends to his ninth birthday party. Jade knew nothing about them except their names: Lindy, Spencer, and Clarissa. 

At first, she had been confused, because whenever she went to pick him up he was always talking to some new kid, so she had figured there would be over twenty kids running around. But she didn’t raise a fuss, and didn’t ask any questions. She told Klaus and Ben to do the same, which they did. Because they always listened when it came to Nikolas. 

The party took place a week after Nikolas’s actual birthday. The three friends walked into the apartment carrying gifts, two neatly wrapped boxes and one large bag, and they kept  giving each other big hugs, as if they hadn’t seen one another at school two hours ago. 

The children’s parents introduced themself to Jade, offering a handshake. Most of them tried to introduce themselves to Klaus, but Klaus was busy trying to make friends with the kids instead of the parents. He seemed to be successfully doing so, if the sound of laughter was anything to go by.

The adults left, slowly trickling out. Giving one last hug before walking out the door, set to return in two and a half hours. But one of the fathers, Anatoly, asks if he could stick around for a few extra minutes.

He was Clarissa’s father, if Jade remembered correctly; she was the older girl, she had almost three years on Nikolas. Jade wasn’t quite sure when, or how, that friendship had started.  

Anatoly stayed, and the two of them fell into a nice, if a little forced, conversation. Less fast paced then she had grown accustomed to thanks to Klaus and Nikolas. Jade noticed that Anatoly had an accent, small, but noticeable. It sounded almost Russian, or Swedish, or something like that. Jade wasn’t sure.

But they talked about their kids, the school, their jobs; Anatoly didn’t make a face when Jade said she worked two jobs both of which were pretty low on the success scale, or that Klaus was a cashier, but mostly stayed at home with Nikolas.

“I’m a janitor, for this big bank near the middle of the city.” Anatoly responded. “There are only three of us and we have to clean all of it every night. ‘Rissa is usually at home with her older brother when I leave for work, so I don’t get to tuck her in. That’s the worst part about night jobs, I think.” 

The conversation flowed more after that, the two having slightly more in common then either first thought.

Jade was just explaining that she and Klaus weren’t together like that, and how much she hated it when people thought they were, when they heard a loud thump followed by an “I’m okay!” The two of them exchanged a glance, stopping to listen for crying, but when none came, they continued with their conversation.

“My wife passed, a few years back now. ‘Rissa was about nine, I don’t know how much she really remembers about Dottie, but I know she still misses her, even if in a way she doesn’t understand.” Anatoly had sad eyes, she had noticed that from the moment he walked in, that he had sad eyes, that held himself properly, and that had a slight accent.   

She understood why Nikolas had found Clarissa. He had probably seen her mother following her around. He knew it was unusual to see children with ghosts around them. Jade wondered if Dottie was here right now, watching her daughter grow. That’s where Jade would be, but her son would be able to see her. Dottie doesn’t have that. 

Jade shook her head. No sense on dwelling right now. It was her son's birthday party, and they would be bringing out the cake soon. Open gifts, hit a piñata. The whole nine yards. 

She gave Anatoly a smile, not a sad one. Not a pity one, just a genuinely kind smile. He gave one right back. 

 

After everyone had left, and Nikolas had passed out the couch coming down off the large intake of sugar he had, Jade was picking up the popped balloons pieces, and Klaus was washing the dinner dishes. Ben was probably off reading somewhere, he had quickly found a spot all those years ago and stuck by it. Jade had bought a little reading lamp for October 1st. 

It felt so domestic that Jade had to stop for a minute and look around. It was probably the best April 2nd yet. Next year they would top it though, Jade and Klaus had already talked about it, they would be surprising Nikolas with a trip of his choosing, asking him later in the year. They would have enough time to save up for Nikolas’s tenth birthday. It would be fantastic. 

April 2nd, 2019, the Hargreeves-Vega household is coming for you. Be ready to go off without a hitch, because Jade would murder someone if they ruined her son’s birthday. It would all be fine though, just Klaus, Nikolas, and her on a nice trip. 

God, was she ever ready for that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO: prologue is done(?) Main one is being written. I'm failing science and math and this is my escape.
> 
> i beg of u, leave comments & kudos. they won't help me pass my classes BUT they'll make me feel better after looking at my grades

**Author's Note:**

> the way this is going to work (at lease the way i hopes it works) is i'm pretty much re-writing the show, so that'll be a ten chapter re-write, give or take. i have no idea what that will be out, but it will be here at some point. 
> 
> this is pretty much the prologue to the show re-write. i'm also thinking about doing a full backstory on jade, because you got some here, but not the full thing. 
> 
> i also have one shots planned for some got old teenage rebellion, family bonding, and a lot of ice cream. i really hoped you enjoyed this fic! feel free to give me idea of what you might like to see? 
> 
> comments & kudos are greatly appreciated (literally i have a folder in my phone dedicated to comments)


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